The Robert “King” Hooper Mansion, headquarters of the Marblehead Arts Association, was filled with those with a passion for the paranormal for a night, as Boston Paranormal Investigators (BPI) visited for a public site investigation fundraiser, which included demonstrations of all the methods the group uses to communicate with spirits.
The 12-person group of volunteers was first founded in 2006. Long-time member Laura Anno eventually took the reins as the leader. Her interest in the field began when she was a student at Emerson College, where she claims she was pushed by a supernatural force down the stairs of the Boston Public Library.
“That kind of started my mind to think, ‘is there something out there?’” Anno said.
Anno, along with her peers, emphasized the commitment to conducting studies, no matter how long it takes. “Once in a while when something happens, it is the most thrilling, interesting, intriguing experience you can have,” Anno said.
After an opening presentation that recapped some of BPI’s most fruitful investigations, attendees were separated into groups that cycled through different rooms in the house where each member led a demonstration of the group’s methods.
Barry Corbett attempted to communicate with the past residents of the mansion using a burst recording device, as well as dowsing rods that supposedly move in correspondence to spirit’s answers. “Greenfield Hooper got here first,” Corbett explained. “Richard Hooper was called ‘King’ Hooper because he was so popular.” BPI’s Jeff Ciarcia is a commercial pilot by day, but by night he investigates the paranormal. He led a demonstration using an electromagnetic field tripwire. In the mansion’s basement, Michelle Ross used a radio she calls the “spirit portal” to communicate with any potential ghosts. Ross went into detail about what she says is a common misconception about haunted locations, being that spirits are not always from the same era that the structure was first built.
Ross later was the conduit for the night’s final investigation, in which she used the Estes Method. The method involves using sensory deprivation and a “spirit box” to receive responses from any spirits and respond to questions from the crowd on behalf of the supposed supernatural presence.
According to Ross, the spirit identified as a child. The crowd sat in the ballroom of the home in anxious silence for more than 45 minutes as questions periodically poured in from the crowd. Audible “gasps” could be heard as Ross shouted the phrases “come back” and “you can’t leave” when attendees made their way to the exit at the event’s conclusion.
